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Considering a Cadre Augmented Army - RAND Corporation

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-369- A Historical Analysis of <strong>Cadre</strong><br />

In a globalized world with the threat of short-warning military scenarios, an all cadre force is<br />

no longer feasible. Due to this fact, the United States maintains a large standing army<br />

reinforced by the National Guard. The cadre forces proposed in this dissertation would be<br />

the third component of the total force, providing a cost-effective way to maintain the<br />

capability to fight long wars with rotation.<br />

The third important distinction is between high- and low-readiness cadre forces. All<br />

cadre forces proposed in the past were conceived of as high-readiness cadre forces. From<br />

the cadre forces of Calhoun and Upton to the cadre forces proposed in the Cold War<br />

drawdown, all of these forces were expected to be ready to deploy as quickly as possible. The<br />

cadre forces of Calhoun and Upton would be the nation’s primary fighting force, and<br />

therefore, would need to be ready to deploy in a matter of months. The cadre units<br />

proposed in the Cold War drawdown were expected to be ready to deploy in about a year.<br />

The cadre units proposed in this dissertation may have over three years before the first unit<br />

is needed, due to the nature of rotation. 346 This distinction is important because many of<br />

those who rejected cadre proposals in the past based on concerns about readiness may wish<br />

to consider cadre in the rotational context described in this dissertation.<br />

A final important distinction to keep in mind is that previous cadre proposals did not<br />

discuss using volunteers to fill out cadre units in wartime. The proposals of Calhoun and<br />

Upton provided little to no discussion of how cadre units would be filled out. The post-<br />

World War II Organized Reserves assumed that units would be brought to full-strength<br />

through wartime conscription. The cadre proposals in the Cold War drawdown assumed that<br />

personnel in the Individual Ready Reserve (IRR) would be used to fill out cadre units. This<br />

____________<br />

346 See Paper I for an analysis of the tradeoffs between cost savings from a cadre augmented force and<br />

readiness.

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